Contains mild spoilers
I’m on holiday this week, staying in (sometimes) sunny Cardigan, exploring shops and out-of-the-way places. I’m house-sitting for my parents, who are fully paid-up streamers, watching the majority of their visual entertainment from online. Conversely, my home media set-up is geared up to watching things offline. So, this week required a little more effort and forward planning.
Saturday 5 September
Danger Man episode 60: The Mirror’s New
An episode with a very languid pace as Drake attempts to uncover a murder and prove the identity of the killer. Guest starring Donald Houston. Couldn’t take my eyes off this one, despite the pacing.
Movie: Scent of a Woman (Martin Brest, 1992)
There aren’t many movies starring Al Pacino that I like, or think I would like, but Scent of a Woman is the exception.
I’ll always remember the DVD I helped my dad to find; we searched every car boot sale, every flea market, second-hand store, collector’s market and jumble sale that we went to, together or separately, for at least a year. Even during those days when the Western world was at ‘peak DVD’, this movie was difficult to find.
Having helped me on similar treasure hunts many, many times over the years, I was happy for Dad when he finally found the DVD at a reasonable price. Happy too that the movie was just as good as he remembered. Eventually, some years after the DVD, he finally persuaded me to watch it with him.
The film was adapted by Bo Goldman from the Italian novel Il buio e il miele (Darkness and Honey) by Giovanni Arpino and is about a prep school scholarship student, Charlie (Chris O’Donnell), who takes a short-term job near Thanksgiving as PA to a blind, retired Army lieutenant colonel. Frank Slade is depressed and irritable, and determined to go to New York. Strong-armed into joining Frank on a trip to Manhattan, Charlie is grappling with a dilemma of his own. But, as Frank seems hell-bent on ending his life in a grand hotel suite, Charlie has little time to focus on the issue that could see his scholarship end in expulsion from the school.
Al Pacino won an Academy Award for Best Actor for playing the irascible Frank Slade, while O’Donnell was nominated for several awards for Best Supporting Actor. Watching it for a second time, possibly a decade after first watching it with Dad, I feel Charlie’s story lacks heft. The honour system of the expensive private school he attends, and the other students and their wealthy parents, close ranks to defend themselves. But the school headmaster, Trask (James Rebhorn), is looking for the perpetrator of an elaborate end-of-term prank in which his new car was covered in gunge. Nobody was hurt by the prank, and no permanent damage was done. Even with Charlie’s future on the line, it feels like the stakes are low.
Al Pacino plays the blindness incredibly well, and though he is, at times, quite vile, Frank is, at heart, a romantic with a broken heart. His only true love, the US military, threw him out on his blind arse immediately his eyesight was compromised. There’s also a suggestion they weren’t exactly sorry to see him go.
At times, Frank drifts from poetic romanticism to borderline misogyny, but when we see him seduce the lovely Donna (Gabrielle Anwar) into a tango dance, after competing with young Charlie for her attention, we can take Frank at face value – he just loves women.
To modern audiences, the pace may seem slow and the plot beats may feel familiar, but the movie has tremendous heart and is worth seeing for Pacino’s performance alone. It might be another ten years before I watch Scent of a Woman again, but unlike many movies, I definitely want to see it again someday. Vive la DVD!
Sunday 6 September
Nicholas Nickleby: Episode 1 of 6
I found the two-disc DVD set released in a charity shop for £1. Produced by Barry Letts at the height of his reign as ‘King of the Sunday Classic Serial’ at the BBC in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it gave Nigel Havers his first starring role on television.
It’s classic Dickens, full of grotesque characters such as Wackford Squeers (played here by Derek Francis) and sympathetic urchins like Smike. Havers, as you would expect, is quite marvellous as young Nicholas Nickleby.
As part of my drive to revive the classic Sundays of yore (which includes bringing back Sunday lunch – yum!), the once-sacred outpost of weekly science fiction – the much-loved ‘Sci-Fi Sunday’ – completes its slow bleed into obscurity.
I’m going off on a tangent now in which I will ask you, patient reader, to stick with me as I segue from Dickens classics with Nigel Havers to Battlestar Galactica.
Battlestar Galactica was supposed to save Sci-Fi Sunday. It didn’t. Though it’s mostly well acted, has a solid premise and features a highly effective central adversary in the form of the Cylons, *Battlestar* is often less the sum of its parts. It’s weighed down by info-dumping and prone to grating sentimentality, both of which result in bad dialogue.
At times, it’s highly exciting, and there have been some interesting moments and developments, but even though I’ve come at this series completely cold and know absolutely zilch about the production of this show, they can’t hide the cracks. There were obviously creative disagreements over the overarching narrative of the show and characterisation. Some episodes feel decidedly cobbled together, utilising shots from other episodes and deleted scenes from other episodes, with additional dialogue dubbed onto the soundtrack. And then there’s that cheesy robot dog. In short, Battlestar Galactica did not save Sci-Fi Sunday and has been shifted to a less-prominent midweek slot.
Thus, a new routine is born. Classic Serial Sundays is now here. There are six 50-minute episodes to watch over the course of the next four (see below) Sundays.
On the Up Series 2, episode 6
More back-and-forth stuff between Tony and his ex-wife. He messed things up with the woman he was trying to woo, too. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, Maggie had started noticing Sam. This marks the end of the second series, with just six episodes comprising the third and final series to go.
Monday 7 September
The Last Place on Earth: Episode 3 of 7
I’m surprised at how much screen time Sylvester McCoy’s character ‘Birdie’ is getting. He looks so handsome in his period naval uniform, but you can see he’s trying to suppress his natural comedic tendencies. ‘Birdie’ is certainly characterful, and as things progress, we will be invested in what happens to him.
Hugh Grant – yes, that Hugh Grant – appears again fleetingly. Thankfully, now all the central protagonists are in Antarctica attempting to reach the South Pole, it means Susan Wooldridge as Captain Scott’s wife, Kathleen Scott, won’t be in any more episodes. Her performance is very strong but overdramatic and irritatingly overwrought. I feel bad. The only female of any consequence in the entire production, and I knock her performance. Perhaps she overcompensated. But, like McCoy, the actress succeeds in being memorable.
Tuesday 8 September
The Avengers Death of a Batman
I had The Avengers down to watch in the afternoon but was forced to abort after five minutes due to a severe meal malfunction. As the rest of the day unfolded, I wound up with only an hour of TV time. I have seen this episode before, way back, but nothing in those first five minutes rang any bells, not even a guest appearance by David Burke, the recently deceased Dr Watson opposite Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes. I was determined to see it.
Though an odd choice for an evening watch, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, in which Steed acts on a hunch and enlists Cathy Gale to help investigate why a man with humble fortunes left £180,000 in his will, and whether it has any links to a firm of investment bankers. Also guest-starring André Morell.
Wednesday 9 September
Ghost Squad Series 1, episode 8 Assassin:
The leader of a small Eastern European country is murdered. Craig must clear the name of an American man, framed for his death in a plot to prevent Communists from winning power. Also stars were Jill Ireland, Joseph Fürst, George Coulouris and Norman Bird.
Nicholas Nickleby: Episode 2 of 6
Hold on, it’s not Sunday. There is a method to my madness. Firstly, a midweek watch beds the story in my mind (I haven’t read the book), and I want to be sure this is a good fit for Sundays. Also, I’m on holiday and forgot to bring the Battlestar Galactica DVD with me.
I thought Nicholas might be at the school for longer, but no. He left in spectacular style, presumably to set up the next part of the story. Meanwhile, his sister is forced to endure a horrendous ordeal at her uncle’s dinner party.
Conclusions: I’m definitely into it, and it’s definitely not a good midweek watch for me. I didn’t miss Battlestar, either.
Thursday 10 September
Raffles Series 1, episode
It’s always exciting when a series of unconnected tales suddenly refers to them to enshrine them in the narrative.
Friday 11 September
The Andromeda Breakthrough: Episode 1 of 7 Cold Front
Brought in to replace the 13-part series Tightrope, which concluded after watching two episodes a week over six weeks, The Andromeda Breakthrough is the sequel to the BBC’s earlier, now mostly lost, serial A for Andromeda.
The plot follows on directly from that earlier serial. I’m coming at this cold, having assumed the writer and director would’ve hand-held new members of the audience until we were up to speed. Not so much, as it turns out.
Though well-acted and atmospheric, with excellent production values for the day (1962), I didn’t know what was going on most of the time. This may have been a mistake. Will it be back next week, or will it just vanish from the Retroscopic schedule completely? If you want to find out, it’s free to subscribe.
Copyright Martin Gregory 2026
If you like tales with a retro feel and vintage vibes, explore my fiction on Amazon:
Phil’s childhood friend, old Mr. Murray, becomes an early owner of a brand-new video recorder—and everything changes from there.
Suitable for teens, and adults of (almost) all ages, this collection brings together ten different tales of comedy, mystery, and a touch of the uncanny. Preview or buy on Amazon
The Man in Room 17
A newly-researched guide to the first series of Robin Chapman’s classic drama. Available to buy now in paperback and for Kindle. Preview or buy on Amazon
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I laughed out loud at your review of Susan Wooldridge in The Last Place on Earth. Sometimes period dramas just need someone to chew the scenery, even if it tests your patience!
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That’s true. Patricia Routledge is chewing the scenery in Nicholas Nickleby in the next Retroscopic Roundup.
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